The Americas

The Americas

In an unusual chain of events that began with the Mayor of Amsterdam gifting a young coffee plant to King Louis XIV of France in 1714, coffee was introduced to the Americas. This gifted tree was planted in the Royal Botanical Garden in Paris. In 1723 a French naval officer, Gabriel Mathieu de Clieu obtained a seedling and set off for Martinique. Sharing his water rations with the coffee plant and protecting it from fellow shipmates, a storm and pirate attack, de Clieu successfully transported and planted his coffee tree in Martinique. By 1726 the tree had grown and multiplied, and the first harvest was ready. By 1777, fifty years later, there were a reported 18 million coffee trees growing on the island and that sole plant became the progenitor of virtually all the coffee plants in Central and South America today. Gabriel Mathieu de Clieu is a coffee hero if there ever was one.

Brazil

Harvest Time = April thru September
Export Production = 28,572,626 60kg bags (2010)

Colombia

Harvest Time = October thru March
Export Production = 7,161,324 60kg bags (2010)

Costa Rica

Harvest Time = September thru February
Export Production = 1,193,035 60kg bags (2010)

El Salvador

Harvest Time = November thru March
Export Production = 1,078,261 60kg bags (2010)

Guatemala

Harvest Time = August thru March
Export Production = 3,437,279 60kg bags (2010)

Hawaii – Kona

Harvest Time = September thru November

Honduras

Harvest Time = October thru March
Export Production = 3,349,398 60kg bags (2010)

Jamaica

Harvest Time = August thru September
Export Production = 12,758 60kg bags (2010)

Mexico

Harvest Time = October thru March
Export Production = 1,749,325 60kg bags (2010)

Nicaragua

Harvest Time = November thru February
Export Production = 1,657,598 60kg bags (2010)

Panama

Harvest Time = October thru December
Export Production = 63,889 60kg bags (2010)

Peru

Harvest Time = April thru October
Export Production = 3,816,671 60kg bags (2010)